Once again I have to be amazed that it’s when I’m speaking to a child or a child speaks to me that I recognize a truth about God’s character as our Father. I spent eighty minutes each week in the spring semester at the school where I work tutoring Jacob, whose native language isn’t English, in reading while his classmates have their Spanish lesson. The previous aide in this classroom advised me that the only way she’d been able to get Jacob’s cooperation in reading was to reward him with candy, so I continued her policy when I took over her position and “inherited” Jacob and his reluctance to study.

As we walked down the hallway toward the school library for our last session of the semester, Jacob began complaining that the students in Spanish were having a party that day. “Why don’t I get a treat? They’re getting Popsicles!” he asserted.

Using the “love and logic” approach to discipline, I returned a question. “Jacob, do any of the other students in your class get candy for reading?”

“No.”

“”And what do you say when the other children ask why you got candy and they didn’t when we come back into the classroom?”

Silence and a glare from eyes hooded by his wrinkled brow.

Grudgingly Jacob admitted they didn’t get a candy reward for reading, but he still was incensed at the “unfairness” of his situation. I could see that words alone weren’t going to open his eyes. Jacob resentfully pulled out a chair at the library table and plopped down, his arms folded. I took out the log of our reading sessions and asked him, “Jacob, can you count by two’s to help me count how many pieces of candy you’ve had since we started meeting together?”

“Two, four, six . . . ” he counted as I kept turning pages in our log, “ . . . eighty, eighty-two, oh, eighty-four.” In silence I let that truth seep into his awareness before I asked, “How many treats do you think the other children are getting from the Spanish teacher? Eighty-four?”

“No,” Jacob admitted, and his uncrossed arms showed me he got the message. He sighed heavily as he read the first book, a very easy one he’d read many times before, but then warmed up and spoke with some animation in his voice as we read a story about a silly chicken together.

But even as we read, I was hearing a familiar voice in my heart reciting a story I’d read many times. “The older brother became angry and refused to go in. . . . ‘But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’ ‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours . . ..’” Luke 15:28, 30-31

I get to live in my Father’s “house” every day, enjoying an intimate relationship with God that is in itself a treat and treasure. Why am I concerned about how other people who “do me dirty” seem to be enjoying today’s “popsicle” when I’ve already inherited assuredly more than eighty-four blessings straight from my Father’s love? How many times has the Spirit of God connected me wonderfully with someone who needed to hear of his love, with someone who had a word straight from God’s heart to mine? Who is richer?

And I – in righteousness I will see your face; when I awake, I will be satisfied with seeing your likeness. Psalm 17:15

You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand. Psalm 16: 11

I reminded myself of the most well-known and beloved Psalm in the Bible:

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever. Psalm 23: 5-6

With an overflowing heart I cried out to the Good Shepherd, “Living in your love is my reward. Bring the lost ones home to know you, too!”

I gave Jacob the rest of the bag of candy to tuck into his backpack and take home. And guess what – the Spanish teacher gave him a Popsicle, too.

But the greater truth is this: neither of us teachers, and none of the rewards we gave, could ever out-give or even begin to compare with the abundant riches of knowing and dwelling in God’s presence daily, the security of his character as a mightily giving Father.

a ” . . . BUT . . .” to move: Father god, I get miffed when I see people who don’t honor you seeming to prosper BUT I rememb

2 Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.3 And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains.4 Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should.5 Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity.6 Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.Colossians 4: 2-6 NIV

As long as it is day, we must do the works of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work.5 While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” John 9: 4-5

Twice in as many days, and this isn’t to honor me ,but to brag on God and His timing and open doors, his loving, caring, compassionate heart, and what happens if we’ll just be, as Patsy Clairmont said in the title of her humorous devotional book,”Cracked Pots” who let the Light shine through our humanity. On Tuesday morning at the opening women’s ministry meeting, I hung my purse on a chair, only one woman I didn’t know sitting there , brought back a plate of fruit, and began engaging in conversation with the four other women at the table. Nothing earth-shaking – just friendly conversation. That led to me connecting with Peg. She told me later she was a bit unsure but got the Holy Spirit’s nudge to talk with me. And the result was me being able to drive Peg to the Tuesday night Healing Room at Two Rivers Church, to intercessors who’ve blessed me many times, so she could get some words from the Lord. When I heard the laughter coming from the prayer room, I knew I’d done the right thing, and Peg indeed got her “socks blessed off.” Way to go, Abba God!

Then this morning, for whatever reason, I decided to pop into the grocery store I’d visited on Tuesday to see if any of the reduced price protein drinks were still there. so I pull into a parking lane and wait for the older (says she who is 68!!) woman to walk by before I pull into a spot. She’s getting a cart at the entrance as I walk up, and she motions me to go ahead, but I say,”No, please go ahead.” As she walks in, she jokingly says, “Open sesame!” and I reply, ”Oh, you must be magic !” That silly little exchange opened the door for her to share that she’dpaid a large bill by check, put it in the mailbox, but the letter carrier dropped that envelope, someone picked it up, “washed” the pay to line, and chased her check. Now she was in a tight financial bind. I touched her shoulder and prayed with her for God to bring her vindication, and restitution, and she thanked me and said, “Amen!”

Twice in two days straight, after Carol had shared on Monday about being Holy Spirit-nudged to pray with a woman in the produce section of Wal-Mart, motivated by the lack of plastic bags readily available! And Melanie on Tuesday driving back to give some encouragement and affirmation to a woman she’d passed, standing on the sidewalk, who said thanks after Melanie simply said hello to her! Linda’s had those encounters, and so have Donna, Libby, Lily, the other Carol, Yolanda, Val, Debbie, Julia ……

It ain’t me! It doesn’t just happen to me! It’s God pouring out HIS light, love, encouragement, empathy, compassion, smile, validation, affirmation, acknowledgement to people who need a bit of light, a word of cheer, and breath of hope from The Almighty Himself, just poured out through us “cracked pots”!! All we need to do and be – all YOU need to do and – is available and ”cracked” enough to get over yourself and your insecurity (yes, I get it; me, too!) and start a conversation! I’ve lost track of how many times God has done this through. (See my past post about “Connect the Dots” for a few more).

Oh,Rose and ________________ (fill in your name), why do you ever doubt Jesus loves you?Why do you ever doubt the Holy, Almighty, Creator and King of Kings DOES want to live and love through you,to be a vessel of His Light and Love and Truth and Word on Earth?! Why do you think you’re the power that moves in these Divine encounters? As in the opening words of the book The Purpose-Driven Life, “IT’S NOT ABOUT YOU!”

Soooo …… as Jesus told us, HIS “disciples” meaning “sent ones,” “As long as it is day, we must do the works of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work.While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” John 9: 4-5 Carry HIS Light! Be that “cracked pot” that God’s Light can shine through. Night IS coming, and we need to get out into the Harvest fields of people all around us and share God’s Love through Jesus, by the Holy Spirit who DOES live in you and me and us who call ourselves Christ Followers, not just Sunday morning pew warmers.

Your”…BUT…”to pray: God, I admit it ,sometimes I’m downright too insecure and chicken and people-pleasing/people-fearing to open my mouth and say hello to someone, much less pray WITH them, BUT YOU ARE ABLE, so help me get over myself and_______________________________________and help me SEE the next open door YOU open in front of me so I can help someone who needs to see and experience YOUR LIGHT of LOVE right then and there. Holy Spirit – gulp – I know YOU will help me, so I ask this in Jesus’ Name, amen!

Me on the river again, Jesus steering the canoe from the stern, and I have no clue where this river is going …. but he’s paddling

Monday, normal day after the worship intercession group I’ve been attending now for nearly two years. Driving home after some shopping, I took a detour to stop in at the church I’ve been attending since summer, and squeaking into the office just 15 minutes before they closed, I met the receptionist and began sharing with her the wild way I/we got connected to the church and all of the God connections that have happened to me there since August. I had to add the latest dot-connection with her:

The day before, for once relatively early to church, we sat down politely in the middle of a row so people didn’t have to climb over us to find a seat. I put my travel cup with the photo of my kids under my seat, got up to use the restroom, promptly noticed when I came back that I’d kicked it over, so I moved it to underneath the chair in front of me. Just before worship started, a couple sat down next to us, the polite one empty seat between me and the young woman. Nothing unusual in that.

At the end of the service, though, the young woman, Stephanie, pointed to my cup as we stood to leave and said, in surprise,”I know those people!” It was my turn to be surprised! It “turned out” totally randomly – ha, I know better – that the teacher of one of her children at a local Christian school is the mother-in-law of my daughter-in-law, and she and her husband took a foster parenting class with my son and his wife! I’m starting to feel like a bowling pin knocked down in amazement on Sundays by a ball rolled by Abba/Jesus /Holy Spirit just to remind me He’s here in my life, active and loving.

Pastor Jeff came into the office about that time, and since I’d wanted to share all the dot connecting with him, I repeated the”coincidences.” I added that I/we are trying to figure out where to move once the house sells: stay in Tucson moving nearer the church, or move back up to East Mesa and find a new church?

(Sound of “pins resetting” in the celestial bowling alley )

Pastor Jeff asks me,”Have you heard of Red Mountain Church?”

I add a question,”You mean the one north of the freeway?”

Jeff: “Yes. My uncle Rob is the pastor there.”

Me:”You mean the Rob who lived across the street and down six houses from me in Mesa, whose wife bought some things from my yard sale in 2013? That pastor Rob?”

Strike! Down I go figuratively in absolute astonished wonder at what a bowler Jesus is!

Why does this matter in the grand scheme of my life? Well …Jesus keeps reminding me what he told his disciples before he sent them out to minister in his name: :

Jesus called for his 12 disciples to come to him. He gave them authority to drive out evil spirits and to heal every illness and sickness.

“So don’t be afraid of your enemies. Everything that is secret will be brought out into the open. Everything that is hidden will be uncovered. What I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight. What is whispered in your ear, shout from the rooftops. Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but can’t kill the soul. Instead, be afraid of the one who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Aren’t two sparrows sold for only a penny? But not one of them falls to the ground outside your Father’s care. He even counts every hair on your head! So don’t be afraid. You are worth more than many sparrows. What if someone says in front of others that they know me? I will also say in front of my Father who is in heaven that I know them. Matthew 10: 1, 26-32 NIRV

God bowls me over to lift me up, connects dots again and again to remind me how very much he loves me and yes, he is indeed out of love paying attention to my situation and yes, he wants me to remember that GOD IS IN CONTROL so I should get over fear and thinking that man is in control of my today and tomorrow. And yes, I WANT to say in front of others (you in particular) that I KNOW JESUS, AND HE IS LORD OF LOVE AND LORD OF ALL!

I was so swept away by God’s love for me in Jesus again today, suspecting he’s connecting more dots I just can’t see yet to bring his goodness and victory out into the open in and through my life, perhaps so you, dear Reader, can believe he is doing and wants to do the same in your life out of his immeasurably passionate kindness, goodness, mercy, power and love for you.

So the one”…BUT…” to pray today is your call, your crying out to truly see some dots connected, or your recognition of the dots God has connected for you in the past: LORD, here I go again thinking that my life doesn’t matter to you, thinking that people determine my situations and blessings or lack thereof, BUT I know that in truth, YOU ARE GOD AND YOU ARE LORD AND YOU ___________________________________ and YOU WANT TO __________________________________________ to me, for me, in me, and through me, so I’ll say THANKS by faith that you are connecting dots for my blessing. BOWL ME OVER WITH YOUR LOVE! In Jesus’ name, for God’s Glory, and Holy Spirit, I’m watching AND listening for Your Amen!